Shadowmen

Chapter 8

8

The tunnel abruptly ended, nearly resulting in Drake and Scalworth walking straight into solid rock; again.

It struck Drake then just how dangerous their situation could be. They were at the end of a tunnel that took an hour to reach the end of, with a man they'd just met, and they couldn't see anything.

'Many spies of the Crucé and other criminal guilds have made it this far, thinking this tunnel would lead them to the Shadow Unit, but they always turn around here.'

'And I suppose you don't?' suggested Scalworth, 'what do you do, walk through the wall?'

'No. I think you've proved that walking through walls is quite impossible,' said Will.

Drake sniggered, despite the fact that he himself had walked into the walls of the tunnel three times already.

Suddenly they heard the sound of rock grating on rock. Drake followed his ear and stooped down, his shoulder brushing off Will's.

'What did you just do?'

'Here, look,' said Will, and he took a stone from his pocket. It glowed faintly in the darkness, and revealed a key protruding from the rock floor. In front of it, between the key and the tunnel wall, was a small square of blackness.

Will took the key from the floor, and covered the keyhole with a stone. He slipped the glowing stone back into his pocket.

'Hey, that could be very useful in my hands!' exclaimed Scalworth.

'Get your own,' muttered Will, and he jumped through the hole in the floor.

Drake heard him hit the floor a second later.

He peered into the darkness and felt a tiny bit of apprehension.

His curiosity got the better of him and he leapt into the darkness.

'I'm not sure I want to go down there!' Drake heard Scalworth say as he hit the hard stone floor.

'Its fine Scalworth,' said Drake reassuringly, knowing that if he mentioned he'd hurt his foot Scalworth would make him catch him.

'No it isn't. I heard you wince just now. You'll have to catch me.'

'Scalworth, I'm not going to ca…aaah!'

Drake was knocked to the floor as Scalworth crashed into him. They landed in a tangled heap, Scalworth laughing uncontrollably and Drake swearing and kicking.

'Get off!' Drake managed to break free and he scrambled to his feet.

He kicked Scalworth in the stomach and surveyed his surroundings.

It was slightly brighter then the tunnel above had been, and Drake could make out stalactites and stalagmites surrounding them. The way their voices echoed implied that the cavern was quite big.

'We're now at the edge of the caves of Pallor,' came Will's voice from a couple of feet away.

'I thought the only entrance to the caves was near the Main Gates,' said Drake.

'That's the tourist entrance. There's many more, hidden throughout the city. Some are quite well-known really. The dungeons in the castle venture into the caves on the lower levels. There are numerous shops in Tradestown that the caves run right beneath, and the owners of the shop use the tunnels and caverns as store-rooms. The cold temperatures are ideal, and all the shopkeepers have to worry about are the rats and thieves.'

'And what about the spies?' said Scalworth, finally catching his breath, 'surely some of them have found you're hiding place down here.'

'No, you see that's the beauty of it. To approach where we now are through the caves is near impossible, the way is full of subterranean rivers and gaping chasms. Virtually the only way is through that tunnel.'